There are many ways to educate your children, and, if you're just getting started in home schooling, just choosing the approach you wish to take can be overwhelming, never mind the curriculum itself! If you're interacting with more experienced home school families, the stuff they're doing might intimidate you into thinking you can't possibly home school your kids, but stop! Take a breath. You just need to sit down, ask yourself a few common sense questions about what you want to accomplish, and get a handle on what options there are. As we see it, all approaches to education should fall under a broad "covenantal approach," in which parents deliberately focus on training their children to love and reverence their God and respect and submit to their parents. That's what home schooling is for. But when one talks about "approaches," one typically means the way one goes about actually educating your kids. In our mind, there are five main and legitimate approaches to home schooling, listed below. Another is "unschooling," which we don't consider a legitimate option; and "eclectic" home schooling, which, in a conservative sense is basically a blend of the others (this is our recommendation). "Eclectic" can also refer to a much more liberal, even anti-Christian education. We obviously suggest steering clear of that approach.